Spring Break in Japan [part 2 – Hiroshima & Miyajima]

After we left our AirBnB property in Osaka we headed to Shin-Osaka Station to buy tickets for the Shinkansen to take us to Hiroshima.

she definitely earned her Japan patch this trip; she carried not only all her own stuff but all of Clio’s too….and didn’t complain once!

I was a little nervous about this as I had planned on buying the tickets when we first got to Osaka but that never happened.

chilling on the steps near Hiroshima Castle

Of course all was well as there are hourly trains to Hiroshima and the agent even said not to bother paying extra for reserved seats because there would be plenty of room in the unreserved seating area.

Looking out over Hiroshima

He was right about the seating, although I am glad the girls and I were some of the first to board as we managed to get 3 seats together.

Hiroshima Castle

We arrived into Hiroshima late morning and walked straight to our hotel to drop off our luggage. Not only were we still to early to check-in but I had a TERRIBLE headache which meant I wasn’t really in the mood to explore.

my littlest adventurer

However, with plenty of time to kill before being to check-in we decided to visit a few of Hiroshima’s main attractions; Hiroshima Castle, Genbaku Domu (a.k.a Atomic Bomb Dome) and a walk through Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

Genbaku Domu or Atomic Bomb Dome

That evening we took things easy as my headache was being very persistent and the girls were pretty beat from our days traveling and exploring.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

The following day we made our way via public transport to Miyajima, there are plenty of tour options but seriously the public transport to get here is really easy (1 train & 1 ferry) and cheap too!

Miyajima

Miyajima was one of my favorite places of this trip and I wished we had looked into staying on the island rather than doing a day trip. I also wished I hadn’t brought the stroller on this particular day because it meant we were limited in our exploring.

floating torii gate of Itsukushima shrine

Similar to Nara, Miyajima have loads of deer roaming the streets, although unlike Nara they don’t have food for sale and we constantly had to guard our food.

Itsukushima Shrine

Our map wasn’t so lucky when one sneaky deer snagged it right from the stroller and proceeded to eat it in front of us; which of course the girls thought was hilarious.

delicious strawberry shaved ice (or something similar!)

After a few hours, most of which Clio slept in the stroller, we headed back to Hiroshima for some delicious Indian food before calling it a night.

pretty flower!

The next day we were up early to get the Shinkansen back to Osaka before getting a train to the airport and then finally a flight back to Okinawa and with that Spring Break was over.